


Iron

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Character Study, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Song fic, i just like this song, oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2013-11-24
Packaged: 2018-01-02 11:59:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's basically just character background based on the song "Iron" by Woodkid. So yeah. A bit depressing, but I really wanted to go in depth with Nico's character. It started structured, but then it got a little more choppy and blegh. Sorry ಥ_ಥ.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Iron

They sleep in a soft white bed, with clean smelling sheets and pillows like clouds. They do not know how they got there, and they don't remember anything but each other. One is small and lithe like a hunter, with long black hair, olive skin, and a small scattering of freckles across her nose. The other looks like her, but several inches shorter, tuftier hair that reaches the nape of his neck. She jolts awake, throwing back the warm covers, and staring at the room she is in. She shakes him to make him open his eyes, and together, they have a moment of panic. They decide to examine their surroundings, they listen for the sounds of planes and guns, screams, anything. The only things they find are a clean bathroom, a futuristic looking television, a closet with clothes that fit them perfectly, and a small refridgerator. When he opens it, he gasps with delight as he gazes at the rows of sodas, sweets, and a dozen other treats she knows she will have to stop him from gorging on. Their initial panic is forgotten. Everything is forgotten throughout the next few weeks.

_Deep in the ocean, dead and cast away_

They forget to care when they laugh and giggle at the movies that play on their television, they forget to question as the nice doorman hands them small cards that allow them to play whatever they want in a large lobby full of any game imaginable, they forget to think as they are handed the delicious sweet lotus flowers. When the man in the suit comes and tells them they must leave, they don't want to. But they must, so they stuff some clothes from their closet into bags, gather up all their worldly possessions, him grabbing a deck of cards he particularly enjoyed playing, and wave sadly to the smiling staff.

They are placed in a cold, harsh school, and everything has changed, and they don't know how. It was only a couple weeks, but the war is over, they have to dress differently, and there are so many new things that they don't even try to comprehend them. When the attack happens, they are completely bewildered. The monster leads them away, tries to capture them, but the boy with the glowing sword steps in front of them as they clutch each others hands and try to shield each other. 

They are taken to some camp, but their worlds have changed. Hers is brighter, freer, and she is happy to look foward. His is lonelier, darker, and he is afraid to look back. She has tried to leave him behind. Still, he pleads, as she leaves, to the boy he had gazed at in awe and admiration, to look after her, to make sure she comes back.

She does not come back. After all the time he has spent, pacing around the campfire, burying his worries in his tasks, she does not come back when he runs in, demanding to know. 

They had always been Bianca and Nico, Nico and Bianca. But now, it was just him. 

_Where innocence is burned in flames_

He turns away as he is told the news by his hero, the one he had trusted to bring her back safely, with tears in his eyes. He runs away, flees into the forest.

_A million miles from home, I'm walking away._

He sits on the edge of the banks near the black river, the ghost of Minos behind him. A fire burns beside him, but it does not penetrate past his dark clothing to warm him. He drops the cards in the flames, and they shrivel up and turn to ashes. Dark eyes look past the swirling waters, to his father's palace. It is cold and unwelcoming.

_I'm frozen to the bones, I am..._

The ghost guides him, whispers in his ear about promises he will never keep. He goads him on, to seek revenge and to look for her spirit. He believes he can take her to the upper world, to breathe life back into her broken body, to pretend she was never gone.

_A soldier on my own, I don't know the way_

As the misty form of her appears, he chokes back a sob. She finally came to him... and she speaks to Percy first. She then turns to him, and all of the original sorrow he had felt comes rushing back. She looks at him with love in her eyes, but her words strike him to the core. Then she fades away, because she will never be alive again. And that's when he realizes who he is really angry at. _Everyone._ At that moment, he is mad at her, for leaving him, at Percy, for letting her go, and himself, because he knows he can't hate him, no matter how hard he tries.

_I'm riding up the heights of shame_

When he sees what his mother looks like for the first time, in the image that appears above the murky pool of soda and various fast foods in Persephone's garden, his heart jumps into his throat. So that is what their life looked like, safe and happy, where none of... of  _this_ could have happened, until Hades is cradling her body and they are swept away. When he scrambles back from the river, a newly invulnerable boy pulling himself out and his own cheeks flushing red, he is filled with distate for himself. He wants to bury it, he wants to prove himself, he wants to think that maybe, just  _maybe_ he could be something less hateful than himself.

_I'm ready for the fight and fate_

After they win the war and Percy goes missing, he becomes a wanderer. Sure, the temporary acceptance had been nice. But it was  _temporary_. He would forever be what he was, and that was not something that was welcome. Always was, always would be. So he travels across the country, his small figure cutting a contrast amongst the most dangerous scenes.

He finds the other camp, led by his father's voice. He does not know why he has stumbled upon it, but when he travels back to the Underworld, in another half hearted attempt to bring his sister back, he finds she has moved on. He does not take the news well, pressing down a sob that threatens to come out of his throat, and he decides to stroll through the Fields of Asphodel. A spirit is there, among the countless others, but she is brighter. She is  _solid_. And then... she is alive. He figures out why he found the camp, he brings her there, so she can have another chance at life. Unlike Bianca. 

And Percy is led into camp. He is finally amongst demigods, finally has a chance of being found by the people he loves. Nico looks at him with detached interest, pretending again. He's lying to the both of them. He leaves so he doesn't have to continue, says that he will look for the Doors. There is one advantage of being who he is, he thinks. He can go anywhere he wants.

He actually finds them.

That was a mistake.

He is dragged down,

                                down,

                                      down.

He can't go lower. He is in the wasteland for an undeterminable amount of time. At least, that is how it seems to him. There is a point where you see so many horrors, your mind simply doesn't care about time. It cracks a little, is broken into jagged pieces. When he is sitting in the cold bronze jar, he has to force himself to stay alive. During his slumber, he sometimes dreams of Bianca, of her soft hands against his cheeks, her reassuring words, her kind smile. Sometimes he dreams of Percy, his infuriating loyalty, and he hates those. Mostly, his dreams are filled with the fire, the darkness, and the torture in the pit. 

_The sound of iron shocks is stuck in my head_

When he is stretching out his hand, desperate to try to pull them up, because he knows what lies underneath them, and he doesn't want  _anyone to ever go through that_ , he really is desperate. But behind it, there is also a sort of bitterness, a cruel sense of irony. Here he is, trying to save these people, and if he does, he will have to look at them being so  _happy_   together. They have found each other, and he has found no one. He is almost glad when they fall, then curses himself immediately. He knows they're alive, he can feel their hearts pumping through his mind, the beats intertwined.

_The thunder of the drums dictates_

On the ship, he is slightly numb. A little bit. He has to be, considering all things. The others are looking at him like a ticking time bomb, about to explode into a million tiny pieces. They're wrong- he already has. There's now a constant buzzing in his ears.

_The rhythm off... falls to the number of deaths_

And then, suddenly, he can't be numb anymore. He is forced to look at his life, to finally say the things he should have said for a long time. He braces himself against the crumbling columns, and he knows he is visibly trembling. It's the one of the worst experiences he has had for a while. Nothing can border Bianca's death, or Tartarus, but somehow, just saying those words is like feeling a knife has sliced open his skin. He feels vulnerable, and caged, backed into a corner. He lets it out. He takes a breath, waits for what is to come. When the other boy responds, it's not what he expects. They're words of support and kindliness. He pushes them off, but still- they are vaguely comforting. Of course, he never says anything of the sort.

_The rising of the heights ahead_

The ship sails on, to Epirus. He does his dead kid thing, helps them reach the Doors. Hazel has defeated their enemies, Percy and Annabeth are safe. Safe, but he can see they have changed. Changed like he did, the only people who have gone through what they did. 

_From the dawn of time to the end of days_

_  
_When he sees them, looking the way they do, like they belong in his realm, he breaks down even more. He has a quiet sort of cry, his tears stream silently. They have become much too common. So he must leave, he must keep leaving. He has a purpose this time, doesn't he? A mission with another hero?

_I will have to run away_

Percy comes to talk to him. He says all the things Nico wishes he wouldn't, but at the same time, what he wishes he would.

_I want to feel the pain and the bitter taste_

He has to bite back scathing words, has to prevent everything from spilling out. Instead, he gives a short reply, a request for space, when space is the last thing he wants.

_Of the blood on my lips again_

As he slips on the ropes, whisks them away into the shadows, the numbness comes back. He is cold, so cold...

_The steady burst of snow is burning my hands_

He can see his breath in front of him, a pale steam rising from his lips. He feels drained and heavy.

_I'm frozen to the bones, I am_

_  
_He collapses on the ground, Reyna looking down concernedly.

_A million miles from home, I'm walking away_

_  
_The last thing he sees before he falls asleep is Bianca in front of him, tucking his hair behind his ear, Hazel looking at him with warmth written on her face, and Percy, green eyes narrowed at him.

_I can't remind your eyes, your face._

**Author's Note:**

> "its beautiful" as i sigh and turn away in disgust, resolving to never look at it again.  
> i really am sorry for this terrible fic.


End file.
